His Dark Lady | Tom Riddle Novella

Chapter 7: Night Owls

September 25th, 1950

"A beach?! In the fall?! While it's raining?!!"

Emelina wrapped her cloak around herself tightly, she was shivering despite the heating charm she had cast on herself. She had no qualms using her wand in front of Tom seeing as he had seen her engage in a duel just a few moments ago.

Tom had apparated them to a beach stating that he often came here for the grindylows. Apparently the grindylows here were much less hostile towards wizards, likely due to the fact that not many frequented this specific beach. On any other day, Emelina may have been fascinated by the plentiful friendly grindylows swimming close to the shoreline, it truly was a magnificent sight that she likely wouldn't forget. 

She was not fond, however, of walking in wet sand during cold, rainy weather.

"My Viviers are going to get ruined." Emelina complained looking down at her navy heels. She flicked her wand at them, casting a protection spell to hopefully repel the water and sand that may ruin the delicate silk.

"You didn't strike me as the materialistic type," Tom commented, casting a brief glancing down at her beautiful shoes.

"I wonder why not," Emelina responded dryly. "You're clearly not as observant as I thought. When have you ever seen me dress poorly?" Emelina didn't notice his gaze harden a fraction at the comment and carried on. "Besides, a pair of luxury shoes like these would make even the most humble wizard become slightly materialistic."

Tom led her up a dirt path to the jagged rocks that created a short cliff over the sea. Intaking a sharp breath, Emelina swayed as a wave of dizziness washed over her.

"Are you alright?" Tom asked, quickly reaching out to steady her as her vision cleared.

What just happened?

"Yes, I-" Emelina responded slightly shakily. "I think it's probably just magical exhaustion?" It had been meant to come out as a statement but sounded more like a question. She wasn't satisfied with that reasoning and neither was Tom apparently as he simply nodded, eyes slightly narrowed in suspicion. She hadn't used up a ton of energy at all against the auror earlier- he was knocked out in less than five minutes. 

Tom continued to lead them up the path but maintained a grip on her upper arm as though expecting her to lose her balance again.

Slightly perplexed, Emelina truly didn't believe that she was exhausted from her use of magic against the auror in the alley. She had used much more magic on several other occasions and had barely been winded, let alone dizzy after. Simply shrugging it off as a random incident, Emelina trudged on with Tom, still a little grumpy at all the wet mud.

"You're a difficult witch to get a hold of." Tom mentioned, breaking their silence.

"I stay home pretty much all day, every day," Emelina replied in an amused tone. "I shouldn't be that hard to get a hold of."

"And at night?" Tom asked.

Emelina hesitated, "What?"

"Where do you go at night?" He asked, rephrasing his question. "My owl has clear instructions to only deliver my messages if the recipient is there. I don't enjoy waiting for responses so he waits for a response to be written and brings it back, all in one journey. The owl's returned several times in the last month without a response from you; today was the first time I was graced again by your floral parchment."

They had stopped walking now, Tom dropped her arm and stood across from her, scrutinizing her with a piercing gaze. Emelina knew she would not be able to lie her way out but knew well enough how to hide the truth.